Since December, I’ve been hard at work organizing and curating this month’s group show at Northern. I met all the artists during my stay at The Vermont Studio Center this past November and December. From the Press Release:

For the month of March, Northern is pleased to present, From, Johnson, a group show exhibiting the works of 19 artists from across the country.

Each of the 19 artists included in From, Johnson met for the first time this past November at The Vermont Studio Center, a residency for visual artists and writers located in Johnson, Vermont. A play on words between the name of the small town where the artists lived and worked for a month and the influential Pop-Artist and ‘Father of Mail Art,’ Ray Edward Johnson, From, Johnson is about making connections — connections between artists, connections through the act of sending art via the United States Postal Service, and connections between the disparate works themselves.

Images of the show:

Nathan Rayman

Laura Kaufman

Harrison Haynes

Jenny Buffington

Daniel Arlein (This photo only shows the landscape painting partially extended)

Alexis Semtner

James Horgan

It’s suddenly spring in the Pacific Northwest. The days are getting longer, fruit trees are blooming with pink and purple flowers and daffodils dot the landscape with yellow. I went for a walk with friend Ben at Woodard Bay yesterday. This is what I saw.

Sometimes it’s hard to hear the Universe talking to you above the din that is your day to day life. As someone who already has bad hearing from an ungodly amount of hardcore and emo shows attended as a teenager, sometimes it’s difficult to hear anything at all (I escaped the alterna-90s and all I got was partial hearing loss). However, when the same sentiment is repeated over and over from the mouths of unrelated people in my life, I can’t help but acknowledge larger forces at work and stop to listen.

I found out Thursday that I didn’t get a job I was actually (for once) holding out a fair amount of hope for – I had even been informally told to expect a phone interview, so I’m not placing all blame on my overactive imagination. As a direct result of this revelation, I have been listening to Kate Bush non-stop.

Recent insight via electronic correspondence with thoughtful Nora, brunch with the inimitable Brian Jones, and a phone call from always encouraging Kai, however, have left me with renewed faith (or at least a feeling of contentment) with my current lot in life.  Like Kai said, I live in a cool house, I teach at a rad liberal arts institution, and I have a cat and a blog. What more could I want?

While life is never as simple as a single catchy sentence, I recognize the truth in those words… even though I wish that sentence was somewhat longer. If it comes down to it, what’s another year in Olympia?

Where else could I have caught Calvin Johnson reading the entirety of the “O” section from Dan Nelson’s (somewhat problematic) book  All Known Metal Bands on Saturday night? AMAZING. Then, the following evening, where else could I have caught Wynne Greenwood and K8 Hardy personally screening their collaborative video projects via data projector beamed onto old sheets in a hip local thrift store? Jesus. I mean, how fucking awesome is my life?

(Right…?)

Photos via my shitty cell phone.

I had a lovely chat with a dear old friend from college, Matt Shlian, on Sunday. I originally contacted him with questions concerning self publishing but our conversation quickly turned to our respective ideas on the Pursuit of Happiness. We talked briefly about the Harvard Professor of Psychology, Paul Ben-Shahar and his pop positive-psychology book, “Happier.” What are the elements of happiness? Does happiness exist in the intersection of pleasure and meaning like Ben-Shahar suggests, a constant dance of desire and need fluctuating throughout one’s life? Is happiness truly a pursuit, a life long goal, or can happiness be found in the mindful moment as Buddhism teaches? Ultimately, Matt and I came to the conclusion that we both need to keep or day jobs, at least until we are ready to truly Live The Dream. Whatever that is.

However, it has long been a dream of mine to self publish a book and that dream, thanks to the internets and some money saved in the bank, is achievable. I have a ton of work to do in the next few months — I’m shooting for a release date of late June. So far, this book is shaping up to be a limited edition photography monograph, a project in itself rather than a portfolio of previous work. A collaboration, perhaps? Maybe 2010 is my monsoon season after years of mindless, depressive drought. Watch for updates, friends.

The past month and a half has left me reeling. Changes for the worse at work, heavy course loads all around, application season and other professional obligations have left me with very little personal or creative time. However, after this weekend, I am able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, at least for this quarter. Winter 2010 wraps up in a month. Evaluations week and Spring Break give some needed rest before Spring Quarter begins at the beginning of April. For the break week, which corresponds with my 31st birthday, I’m planning a solo roadtrip Salt Lake City, Utah. A few days on the road there and back, a couple days in the city, and of course, the highlight of my pilgrimage: The Spiral Jetty.

This morning I work to a dense fog descending upon the south sound. The house was quiet, the ambient light peaceful. I grabbed my camera and let the chickens out to run around the yard and eat worms…

A President’s Day Photo Essay:

Northern hosted an amazing show of two young, local artists this past month. The opening was truly an event to behold with costumed creatures drumming in circles (think Show Biz comes alive) as well as a lot of attractive, hip kids. The information from the press release is pasted below along with some photos of the opening for your enjoyment.

For the month of January, Northern is pleased to exhibit the work of two Olympia based artists, Joel Allen Davenport and Ryan Converse. The opening reception for the artists was Sunday, January 10 from 4p -7pm. The show ran through January.

Statements provided by the artists:

Joel Allen Davenport

Warm Ghosts is a on-going project of former Denver, CO resident and more recently Olympia, WA space cadet, Joel Davenport. Mostly working in watercolor and ink mediums, he has been meditatively crafting psychedelic, visceral pieces that inhabit their own dimension with their own set of rules, unique characters, waveform patterns, and inspirations while still existing on the same plane.

Inspired by all things obsolete, living or dead, and especially cultural, occult, and religious transcending experiences, Warm Ghosts embraces all forms and spectrum of conversation with the artwork from intricate doodles, a trip that explores earth’s culture through flowing black lines and bursts of color or simply being cute. Warm Ghosts’ goal is to unconditionally love, converse, collaborate or, at the very least, interact with you.

Ryan Converse

I have begun to think of my work as an act of mythopoeia.  I think of each piece I create in relation to my body of work as a whole. With this show I present maps, photos, scaled models and artifacts from a place I call the Valley of the Leafling. Each piece is a viewing portal, which I use to look through to this world and understand it more completely. I choose to work in a variety of mediums to represent this place through as many viewpoints as possible. I have found many old mythologies that match with my subconscious creations, most notably the archetype of the green man, or the foliate head, a figure that represents rebirth, which has appeared in many cultures throughout the ages. I hope that for a time you can suspend your disbelief and gaze upon this valley with unclouded eyes.

Joel Allen Davenport:

Ryan Converse (creature costumes also by Ryan):

I have an absurd amount of stuff for a person that does not yet own a home: books, CDs (how unfashionable), shoes I never wear (even more unfashionable) and an embarrassing amount of tchotchke. I have tiny altars of shells, feathers, stones, pebbles, rocks, sand dollars, crab claws, and what seems like entire forest of vintage ceramic animals, staring with fixed shiny black eyes in every corner of my room.

I can’t help it. I’m an avid chronicler: a memory keeper, a picture taker and an image maker. When I find a special place, somewhere I feel magic, I have to collect it. When I go to the coast, I have to purposefully limit the amount of pebbles that make their way into my pockets. All handwritten notes, cards or letters are filed away into memory boxes. Gifts hold special meaning, the off-handed ones more so. A pipe cleaner bracelet given directly from a friend’s wrist in a show of momentary gratitude, a quote quickly typed on a typewriter after a night of drinking and conversation at Ben Moore’s, a piece of glass kicked down an entire block in Portland, passed back and forth between pairs of feet… these things hold magic. How could I ever throw them away? I need reminders, especially on long, lonely January days, that magic still exists.

A list of magic items, January 2010:

• Mexican Folk Art Cross, Albuquerque, NM purchased while visiting Theresa Pfarr and Robert Rainy, 2006
• Velvet Ship paintings, inherited from the printmaking studio while moving into new office, 2005
• Ceramic vase given by a friend and fellow art student in Alfred, NY, 2001
• Ceramic collie dog figure saved from a junk shop in Portland, 2009
• Deer planter, purchased by parents from Finder’s Keepers, 2007
• Five feathers from each of our chickens, summer 2009
• Papier Mache sparrow (one of three) purchased from Vanessa Lang at the Olympia Film Society Benefit Auction, 2008
• Postcard of Greg Luken’s painting, taken from his show at Northern, October 2009
• Moon Snail shells found while trespassing with Erin on a private Puget Sound beach this past summer, 2009
• Assorted pebbles, pacific ocean beaches, summer, 2009
• Cactus candle given by George Allen while in his truck, Richmond, VA, March 2008
• Suburban Home collages on wood given by Ji Eun, Vermont Studio Center, December 2009
• 1970s Owl incense holder, taken from my parents’ house, 2003
• Cast Typewriter ball given by Conor Peterson, Summer 2009
• Fortune Cat, purchased with Marisa in San Francisco’s Chinatown, December 2007
• Dancing Ceramic Cactus, purchased with Tyler in Arizona, 2004
• Teabag Etching, given by Lisa after serving on the budget committee, May 2009
• Ceramic Pelican bank from estate sale shopping with Willow and Avi, Fall 2008
• Ceramic owl figure found by Willow at Value Village, Fall 2008
• Wooden bowl of assorted stones, quartz, lava rock and Johnstown diamonds, found all over the country during various adventures, 1999 – 2009

These books are currently blowing my mind:

Stephen Shore – American Surfaces

Stephen Shore – Uncommon Places

Terry Falke – Observations in an Occupied Wilderness

And the books I find myself revisiting, once again:

Alex Soth – Sleeping By The Mississippi (I have a first edition!)

Joel Sternfeld – American Prospects

All I want to do is travel across the country and take photographs. Does that even happen anymore? Does anyone care? Have you seen the Polaroid Kidd?

The holidays are over, which means that school is gearing back up for winter quarter. Classes start tomorrow and I’ll be teaching another section of foundation drawing as well as a revised and improved printmaking course focusing on relief applications. Should be fun but exhausting. The studio is fully booked and I’m going to have to train a bunch of new studio assistants this quarter as well, which (done well) requires the same amount of preparation and instruction as teaching another class. This quarter will be the busiest I’ve ever seen in the studio and it’s only going to get busier this coming spring quarter.

Exhibits at Northern are already planned through April. We’ll have the install for this month’s show later this week featuring two young local artists’ psychedelic ink drawings and cardboard/ papier mache constructions. February will feature the work of four Evergreen photography interns. In March, I’m curating a group show of  several rad folks I met at Vermont Studio Center, which should prove exciting.  In April, we’ll be showing  the work of multi-talented indie stalwart Rachel Blumberg and an another Portland based artist. Whew. I’m already four months into 2010.

I’m also applying for several teaching positions around the country as well as more residencies. The application season comes in three parts: The first tier of highly desired positions closes around the 15th of the month, with some having already closed in December. These jobs are for those folks who already have several years of teaching experience and are looking for lateral or upward career movements into higher tier research universities or well regarded liberal arts colleges. The second tier closes in the middle of February, allowing those new to the job market or those with less experience to attend the annual College Art Association Career Fair in mid February. Many of these institutions are looking for entry level positions like lecturers, adjuncts and assistant professors in foundations areas or newly developed departments. Usually these schools are located in rather undesirable areas of the country for liberal, culturally sensitive artist types. Basically, they’re the jobs that will work you to death and make you question if you want to continue to pursue a career in academia. The third tier opens up in March and April and runs through May/June. These are the positions that open up through the academic shuffle resulting from first and second tier hires and they’re usually one year visiting positions while the college plans a national search for a full time hire. And then there’s the emergency hires during the summer months, the unofficial fourth tier. These hires result from sudden funds being released to college and other unforeseen circumstances that cause a temporary position to open up or be created entirely. Usually, By June or July, the vast majority of job seekers have been so thoroughly rejected that fewer people even bother to apply during these months. The pick-up and move-your-life in the matter of weeks is also a factor, so for the more flexible, less experienced academic job seekers, this is a prime market.

I will not be attending the career fair this year and probably won’t again until I present a paper or participate in a discussion panel, which is on my list of things to do before I die.

The rule of 2010 is Work.

And if work fails, there’s always Portland.

This is embarrassingly late. November ran away with me to Johnson, Vermont while an outstanding print show by University of Tennessee graduate students and friends decked the walls at Northern. The show, titled “Furhaus” featured the work of printmakers Veronica Siehl, Daniel Maw, Ben Fox-McCord and Caitlin Wheeler. “Furhaus” presented various approaches to contemporary print, from ethereal to ephemeral, tied together by the use of screen-printing techniques, craftsmanship and attention to detail. Photos of the show are below! Be sure to check out the artists’ websites too!

Veronica Siehl:

Daniel Maw:

Ben Fox-McCord:

Caitlin Wheeler: